Film star Brian Blessed backs bid to keep mining memorial

A campaign to preserve the headgear of Doncaster’s last pit as a lasting memorial to the town’s mining industry is gathering pace.

Hatfield Colliery, the last surviving pit in South Yorkshire, closed early last month after a shock announcement which saw scores of miners losing their jobs overnight.

But now a campaign to save the iconic colliery towers and winding wheels – known as headgear – is being stepped up to try and ensure Doncaster’s massive contribution to the UK mining industry is remembered.

Pete Thompson, secretary of the Hatfield Main Colliery Community Heritage Association, says the headgear has been a local landmark for more than a century.